


Firewhisky and Fear

by Anonymous



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alcohol, Anger Management, Boggarts, Corpses, Drinking Games, Fear of Death, Slytherins Being Slytherins, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:20:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29981385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Sometimes it takes a Slytherin, to help a Slytherin.
Relationships: Severus Snape/Andromeda Black Tonks
Kudos: 7
Collections: 2021 DBQ Round One: Boggart





	Firewhisky and Fear

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [TheSlytherinCabal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSlytherinCabal/pseuds/TheSlytherinCabal) in the [DBQ2021Round1](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/DBQ2021Round1) collection. 



> Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me but are the property of J.K.R. and Warner Bros. No copyright infringement is intended. The theme for this round of the competition was Boggart and my chosen pairing was Severus Snape/Andromeda Black. Comments/Reviews are encouraged by The Slytherin Cabal's Admin Team on all stories in Death By Quill, but comments left by readers are set to be moderated by story authors until the end of the competition in order to protect participants' anonymity. Thank you to my beta for their time and help.

Spying had been a mistake.

Severus was sure of it. There was no way that the  _ right _ thing to do could lead to such overwhelming rage. There was no way that being on the  _ right _ side of things would force him into working with someone like Sirius Black. It had to be a mistake. He should have just offed himself; it would have made the same amount of difference to Lily in the end. 

The heat of summer prickled over his skin even through the charm-cooled wool of his robes as he stormed out of Grimmauld Place and apparated into Hogsmeade. He took the long way around the lake but not even exertion could ease his temper. The minute that he was back in his chambers he unleashed his frustration. 

With a jab of his wand his fireplace tools were blasted from their place beside the large fireplace, littering the entirety of the room with the mangled metal. The tools were one of the few things he'd kept from his childhood home. They were nothing more than Muggle detritus really, but when Severus saw them he did not think of their proper purpose; Instead of cozy nights at home by the fire he was struck with the memory of biting paint from the pocked brass against his palms when he had grabbed the sharpest one and swung it like a bludgeon against the side of his father's head. 

They reminded him of the most important lesson he'd ever learned: fighting back hurt nearly as much as just taking it, but it was infinitely more satisfying. Tonight the reminder left him with nothing but the bitter taste of bile in the back of his throat. 

He followed up his first blast with another to a chair, imagining his foot slamming into Sirius Black's laughing face. Next went a specimen jar with a perfectly preserved baby shark floating in green-brown muck. He razed a path of destruction across his office until the room looked as if it had been hit by a cyclone.

His anger had still not abated by the time he'd exhausted himself. He was left standing quietly in the middle of the room, panting,  _ seething _ .

“Well, that's a less than refined display,” came a familiar voice from the floo. Andromeda Tonks face was flickering in the flames, cheeks sucked in against her teeth. “Nymphadora had quite a story to tell me about your and my dear cousin Sirius's antics tonight.” 

“Clearly comportment wasn't the only thing you failed to teach the girl,” he snapped, ready to close the floo and block out whatever lecture the woman had for him. “Gossip is an ugly pastime.” 

She brushed him off with a roll of her eyes. “Gossip is the way that women make power out of what men would keep secret. Come through to mine. Nymphadora just began the first of four back-to-back twelve hour shifts so I won't see her for days and Ted is visiting relatives. I'm bored.” 

“That is my problem how?” 

“Just come have a firewhisky with me, arsehole. Floo's open,” she said with a sigh, disappearing from the hearth and leaving Severus suddenly alone again. 

He knew that he could just block the floo and head to bed. He wouldn't even have to fix the destruction of his rooms. The castle elves would do it for him, as they often did. . .but firewhisky did sound tempting. . .and he had just shattered his only decanter against the back wall. 

Most importantly if he stayed he'd be left with nothing to distract himself from Black's snide voice still echoing through his mind: _Y_ _ ou couldn't even stand up to him for  _ **_her_ ** _ , why should we trust you now? _

The Tonks family floo opened into a sitting room peppered with touches that reflected her husband's ancestry. Three magical adults lived here, no Muggles, but at first glance one wouldn't have known. Severus couldn't help but wonder at it. He'd grown up similarly to Ted Tonks (though he could only hope the other man had had a happier childhood) but he didn't feel the need to cling to all these accessories. A television even sat in the farthest corner. Peak mundane. The only visible nod to the fantastic nature of the occupants was a cheerful piece of embroidery on the wall that simply stated:  _ PLEASE REFRAIN FROM MAGIC AROUND THE APPLIANCES.  _ The sentiment was surrounded by daffodils and tiny starbursts. 

Andromeda poked her head around the entrance to the kitchen. “In here.” 

She had set out two glasses on a tiny kitchen table and her decanter of firewhisky sat between them, the ever-burning flame that resided at the surface of the liquor reflecting oddly on the refrigerator and microwave. 

He took a seat at the table across from Andromeda who at least looked as he expected, dressed in a simple, dark green nightgown that resembled a witch's robe more than pajamas. She poured them a finger of whisky each into short glasses. 

“We're going to play a drinking game.” 

_ What was she playing at? _ Severus thought. They were far too old and not nearly friendly enough for any kind of shenanigans. “Why?”

Andromeda tilted her chin down and looked at him through her brows in a way that reminded him uncannily of her eldest sister. “Because despite being a spy and a Slytherin, you are terrible at reading the room. I'm going to give you a skillset to deal with the Order so that you don't accidentally start a feud that gets you killed.” 

“Your cousin and I have been at each other's throats since the day we met, the only reprieve being his imprisonment. I'm not  _ starting _ anything,” he said, seething at the insinuation. 

She ignored him and forged ahead. “The rules of the game are simple. We ask questions and we both have to answer, then we guess whether the other one is lying. If one of us guesses correctly the other one has to drain their entire glass, if we guess incorrectly, then we do the drinking.” 

Severus could see this going down hill rather quickly.

“If we play more than a few rounds we'll both need a liver potion.” 

“You'll drink less if you're honest and earnest, or if you lie well. That's the first lesson.” Andromeda straightened her back and looked straight in his eyes. “Why do you think my cousin hates you so much?” 

“The day we met he decided that I was a problem. He didn't like that I fought back when he lashed out at me.”

She rolled her eyes and now it was Narcissa he saw in her face, mouth drawn tight with annoyance. “ _ I _ think he hates you because you two are too much alike. Hotheaded, clingy, constantly inappropriate. However, I do believe  _ you _ think that though. Truth.” 

Severus inclined his head and downed the finger of amber fire. 

“You are obviously telling the truth.” He bit back the urge to chastise her for her assumption beyond adding “though you thinking that we are so similar nauseates me.” 

“Your question,” she said, not taking the bait. 

His mind was suddenly blank. What sort of question did one ask in a game like this? It clearly wasn't meant to stay light—Andromeda had gone for the throat. He finally just went with something he'd actually like to know. “What would you have done with your life, if you hadn't been at the center of the war?” 

“I would have done exactly what I ended up doing, raising a child, running a household. Except I probably would have married Kingsley's older brother. Loving Ted is what put me in the middle of the war, but most of my pureblood matches would have done the same, I just would have been a target on the other side. Tarquin Shacklebolt was truly handsome though, and he never took a side. My parents would have approved of him,” she answered almost wistfully. Severus wondered if she often thought of that alternate life. 

“I believe you. The girls did seem to love him.” She swallowed her drink and while she poured her refill Severus gave his answer. “I think I would own an apothecary by now. I definitely wouldn't have gone into teaching.” 

“I hope not, you're awful.” She pointed down at his glass. “Drink.” 

The second shot went down like an actual flame and made his always aching fingers tingle. He'd never drank firewhisky so rapidly. It was meant to be sipped and he already felt like he'd been working on a bottle the whole night. 

“What is your Boggart?” Andromeda asked, a tiny hiccup punctuating the question. 

_ Where the hell had that question come from? _ Severus thought, barely able to restrain himself from asking. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd thought about Boggarts. Probably two years previous when Lupin had decided the creatures would be a good lesson for his class and as soon as Longbottom looked at it the thing had turned into  _ him _ . Severus wasn't entirely surprised. Cultivating the persona of a Death Eater didn't make one well liked. It had been true when he was a misanthropic teenager and it was true now that he was a weary middle-aged professor. What  _ had _ been surprising was the method of  _ Riddikulus _ ; There was nothing funny about a man in a dress—though he conceded the vulture on the hat could possibly be considered amusing. 

Even through all that Severus hadn't thought about what form  _ his  _ Boggart would take. The last time he'd encountered one had been before Lily died, and it had been horrifying. He'd had to experience her rejection over and over again, as if it hadn't already happened.  _ Pathetic _ . 

He wasn't telling Andromeda that. 

“The Dark Lord, triumphant, and me at his right hand,” he answered instead. Hopefully that would be enough to dissuade her from continuing with that line of questioning. It wasn't even truly a lie. He doubted his past Boggart would still hold sway over him, and that image of the Dark Lord's final victory had haunted his dreams many nights. 

“I don't believe you,” she said firmly. 

Severus rolled his eyes and drank. She was right, even if it was on a technicality. 

“Come on, Severus, we are supposed to be authentic here. . .” she needled him, her voice almost young and girlish again with the hint of a giggle that the liquor had put in it. Severus felt suddenly that he was getting a glimpse of what she had been like before motherhood and a life of struggle, before he’d ever known her as anything but someone for Narcissa and Bellatrix to complain about. “See, I asked the question because I know exactly what mine would be. I saw it this morning. One manifested in my upstairs hall cupboard. I had just said goodbye to Ted at the floo, then I came up to put away the flannels and his dead body came tumbling out when I opened the door.”

Andromeda was so calm the whole time she was telling her story that it was easy to miss the horror of what she was saying, but it was there. Severus could see it in the flare of her nostrils, and the slight tremble in her hand as she refilled his glass. 

“Now that we are well lubricated I can ask you a favor.” She looked down at her glass thoughtfully. “Consider that the second lesson of the night: If you can't manage a little authenticity, then a little liquid courage will do you well in its stead. I need someone to go up and get rid of it for me. I can't handle seeing Ted like that again.” 

This is what she'd brought him here for all along. He'd bought her ridiculous indignation hook, line, and sinker, but what she really needed was to ask for help. From someone who wouldn't judge her. She certainly couldn't ask Molly or Arthur, it wouldn't reflect on her well as a Mother that she had seen Ted and not her daughter. A game was an easy excuse.

Maybe her lessons weren't for nothing after all. Perhaps he had forgotten what it was like to be among people who respected anything but nastiness, grovelling, and galleons. Somewhere along the line he’d forgotten how to manipulate a situation. He couldn't create a false sense of camaraderie with Black. . . but he could learn to bury the lead a bit more. It wouldn’t be hard to make sure that the other man was the one who couldn’t keep his temper. 

It was a revelation, and Severus couldn’t help but feel he owed Andromeda something for it. It wouldn’t do to be beholden. “You were trying to see if my Boggart was worse than yours?” 

“Yes.” 

“I don't know what form mine will take.” They both knew his  _ could _ very well be worse than a dead husband.be worse. It could be much worse. Severus could open that cabinet and the worst of a hundred of the Dark Lord's revels could spill out. “But since you've given me a large serving of liquid courage I think I can attempt to find out.” 

Andromeda didn't make a fuss, simply nodding and standing to lead him upstairs. The second floor was dimly lit and ominous with the knowledge of what lay behind the cupboard door at the far end of the hallway. Severus could almost sense the malicious presence of the creature even from several feet away.

“I'll stay right here at the head of the stairs,” Andromeda said once they'd gotten to the top. “Unless you want me to go back down. I can give you privacy.” 

Severus surprised himself with his answer. “No. . .I don't have anything to hide.” 

Unless he did. Unless he opened the door to see Lily once again, decaying and still full of anger and disappointment he so fully deserved. A Boggart could reveal many things. . .but even  _ that _ he could trust Andromeda with. She had trusted him with her weakness, he could return the favor.

He opened the door. 

A body tumbled out of the closet and for a moment, looking at the short cropped dark hair, Severus was convinced that the creature had somehow zeroed in on Andromeda at the end of the hall. But it only took a heartbeat for him to realize what he was seeing. 

The body on the floor wasn't Ted Tonks. It was far too young. No. This was a boy. A messy-haired, arrogant-faced boy who was the absolute bane of his existence. The image wasn't merely horrifying because one of his students that he had treated poorly had clearly endured a terrible death. 

The eyes. The eyes were what wrapped his heart in terror and threatened to pull it from his chest. He'd seen those eyes before, emerald green and glazed over with the pallor of death. 

Severus was frozen. He couldn't move. He had failed Lily  _ again _ . Even after all this time. He'd failed her as a friend, and he'd failed to save her life, and now he'd failed to protect her son. . .her son whose eyes were the exact shape and color as hers, as if she'd wanted to leave Severus with a reminder of exactly who the boy was. 

He'd failed to make any sort of penance.

He didn't know how many breaths he had taken when a gentle touch nudged him from behind, two fingers barely touching the elbow of his wand hand. 

“Riddikulus,” Andromeda whispered, as if afraid to draw the Boggart's attention. 

Severus nodded and pointed his wand at the bloodied corpse of Harry Potter. “ _ Riddikulus _ .”


End file.
